


It's Time

by ScribeOnTheSide



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Soen no Kiseki/Akatsuki no Megami | Fire Emblem Path of Radiance/Radiant Dawn
Genre: Angst, Facing Your Fears, Father-Son Relationship, M/M, Madness, Nightmares, Past Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-27
Updated: 2017-08-27
Packaged: 2018-12-20 14:05:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,226
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11922474
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ScribeOnTheSide/pseuds/ScribeOnTheSide
Summary: Ike Greil has lived through many tragedies in his life.  It probably makes sense that he'd suffer a nightmare or two from it.  But when these turn into recurring nightmares, triggered by sleeping in stone castles, Ranulf notices and wants to help.  Story takes place in both the 'real' and the dream world.





	It's Time

Ranulf snapped awake at the sound, a soft whimper that was barely audible in the early hour stillness of the castle. His fur-tipped ears swiveled towards the sound. Turning to the man next to him in the soft feather bed, the laguz strained to find the sound again. Something was wrong. 

Ike laid sprawled out, an arm thrown above his head. He looked completely at peace but Ranulf felt the tension below the placid exterior. Nothing broke the quiet except Ike’s steady breathing. Just as he began to relax, Ike’s head jerked and again, the whimper. Ike’s limbs tensed up, his fingers twitching as if trying to close. 

The nightmares again, thought Ranulf. Every time they stayed in stone castles, the nightmares returned. Ike never talked about them or what they were about. He laughed them off as a result of whatever they’d had for dinner but Ranulf picked up on the pattern. They never happened when they were sleeping in tents or any of the village inns from the towns they crossed through. Only castles. Ranulf lightly brushed aside a lock of hair from Ike’s face.

What’s going on in that beautiful mind of yours?, he thought.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ike looked out from an open arched window high in a tower attached to an enormous castle. His heart sank as he recognized the place. The view out over a murky forest, the cold, hard smell of chiseled stone, the slight dampness of the air, it could only be one place...Gebal Castle… A small sound escaped his throat.

Not again, he thought, I don’t want to see this again! 

A turbulent gale whipped the forest into a frenzy and howled through the window, forcing Ike to hold onto the window frame to stay on his feet. He spied a dark shadow hurrying across the drawbridge and disappearing into the trees. Turning his head from the window, he fought the urge to run after the figure, even has every muscle in his body was screaming to move. Ike closed his eyes. If he didn’t follow, he wouldn’t see. He could just stay here in this room forever. 

As he tried to convince himself that it would work this time, Ike felt the air around him change. The smell of stone shifted to a moldy, decaying odor of fallen leaves. The air stilled, as if the world was holding its breath. Ike turned his face forward and forced himself to open his eyes, knowing what awaited.

He stood in a clearing, the dark, silent trees motionlessly standing watch along the edges. In the center was a circle of light with no discernible source. In the circle were two men, both instantly familiar to Ike. One was the Black Knight, sword drawn and resplendent in his blessed armor, staring angrily at the other man. The second man also had a sword out but lowered. His shoulders slumped forward. His face was a mask of resignation as he faced the knight. Ike couldn’t catch his breath, struggling to breathe as panic surged through his body.

No...

\----------------------------------------  
Ike’s breathing sped up as his body began to shake from the tension, startling Ranulf. He reached out and gently set his hand on the fighter’s chest. Should he wake him up? Was it sleepwalkers or people having nightmares you weren’t supposed to wake?

The laguz leaned in as Ike began to mumble. His ears strained forward, trying to form words from the sounds. It sounded like one word, over and over.

“What is it, Ike? What are you trying to tell me?” he whispered, sliding even closer to his love.

The mumbling abated as Ike stilled. But as quickly as the calm came, it passed. Ike flung his arms out to the side, making Ranulf roll backwards into a crouched position to avoid being hit. With Ike’s motion came a single word.

“Father!”

\-----------------------------------------

The man in front of the Black Knight turned at Ike’s voice and straightened up. For a moment, it was Greil, just as Ike remembered him in those final days. Ike fought down the tears that threatened to erupt, tears he hadn’t let out since his father’s funeral. He wanted to run to him and feel his father’s arms around him one more time. But as he stepped towards the pair, the Black Knight laughed, a metallic, cutting sound that set Ike’s nerves on edge. 

“You want him back, boy? Maybe you don’t remember him as well as you think you do. Go greet your son, Greil of the Greil Mercenaries.”

His father looked from the knight to Ike and shrugged helplessly. 

“I’m sorry, son. I was always sorry.” was all he said before his face began to contort with uncontrollable rage. Greil brought up his sword and howled with demonic fury. Ike recognized that look from when he was a small child. Looking around frantically for help, he saw that the clearing was now surrounded by figures tumbled here and there along the edges. They were dead, blood pooling under them. Ike recognized them all and looked away. Everyone Greil killed the day he touched the medallion... people in the town, people from the household, soldiers that tried to stop him...they were all there, run through by his father’s sword.. 

Ike tried not to look. He didn’t want to find the one he knew was there but couldn’t help seeking her out. She was sprawled on the ground behind him. Mother… 

For a heartbeat, Ike felt like he’d travelled back in time. He was once again a tiny boy watching his mother throw herself at the crazed monster his father had become to save her family. A sob escaped before he took a shaky breath to steel himself. He heard his father moving behind him and turned to face him, drawing his own sword. 

“Rest, Mother. It’s my turn now.” 

\---------------------------------------------------------------  
Ranulf understood now. The dreams, the stone castles, everything. They rarely talked about his family but Ranulf knew the stories. He’d always wondered how his fighter managed to deal with the tragedy of it all. The answer seemed to be, not so well. Ike was now fighting his fears, thrashing back and forth in his nightmare world. The laguz struggled to figure out what to do. Finally, he went with his gut. Ike needed to face this but Ranulf wasn’t going to let him do it alone.

Ranulf threw his arm over the twitching fighter and held him tight, slowing his movements.

“You’re not alone. I’m here. Let me help.” he whispered in Ike’s ear. 

\---------------------------------------------------------------

Greil stalked towards Ike. 

“I don’t want to fight you, Father!”

“I don’t care...son” 

The men circled each other, Greil looking for an opening while Ike stayed on his guard, refusing to strike the first blow. Finally, Greil growled in frustration and charged. Ike feinted to the side and sent him sprawling. His father leapt to his feet, holding out the medallion that started all the trouble. 

“Coward! You’d rather I finished off the rest of your so-called family first? Titania? Soren? Mist? Maybe I’ll start with that cat you can’t stay away from. Or maybe you’d prefer to have this medallion instead so you can kill them.”

Ike’s face hardened.  
“I’m not like you! Not like that. I protect, not destroy.”

Greil laughed, a harsh ugly sound.  
“That’s what I always thought, till this piece of metal showed me the darkness hidden away inside my heart.”

He advanced towards Ike.  
“Why do the ones you love always get hurt, hmmm? What about the soldiers you promised to protect? How are all of them faring?”

Ike stepped back, his expression faltering.  
“Battles can’t always be helped! Swords and lances and axes, they don’t care about promises. Everyone knew what they signed up for.” 

The figures at the edges melted and merged. Now they were his soldiers, his friends, and there, where his mother had been, were Mist and Ranulf. All dead.

Greil was almost upon him.  
“ I...I did my best to protect them all…everyone...”

Ike tried to lift his sword to protect himself but he didn’t have the energy anymore. What if he wasn’t better than his father? People got hurt through his actions, his choices. What if the medallion got him too? What if he had that murderous darkness hidden inside of him, waiting to come out? He couldn’t live with himself if that happened. Maybe it was best to just let his father end it. Then everyone he loved would be safe. Greil laughed again as he raised his sword. 

“I knew you’d see it my way, son.”

Ike lowered his head, waiting for the blow. 

A fierce snarl echoed through the clearing as a streak of blue barreled by Ike, knocking him sideways to the ground and striking Greil in the chest. Ike looked up to see a large cat-like animal standing over his father, massive front paws on his chest, wickedly-sharp teeth just inches from Greil’s throat.

“Don’t...you...touch him!” the cat growled in a deep rumbling voice.

“Ranulf!” Ike rolled to his feet. Ranulf shouldn't be here, he thought. Ranulf stepped off the fallen man and went to Ike, swatting Greil’s sword out of reach before he went. Just before he got there, he transformed back.

Ike pulled him into a tight hug, his eyes never leaving Greil who was slowly getting to his feet.  
“Rani, you need to get out of here. I can handle this by myself.”

Ranulf squeezed him back then pushed him away.  
“No! You’re not alone. I’m here. Let me help!”

Ike reached out for him.  
“I couldn’t stop the Black Knight from killing him anymore than I could stop him from killing Mother. What if it’s because, deep down, I wanted him to die? What if I follow in his footsteps? What if...what if I’m destined to fail all those I love? I can’t lose you.”

Ranulf took Ike’s hands.  
“I’m not going anywhere. And you are not your father. You couldn’t let us down if you tried. There isn’t an ounce of darkness in you anywhere. You never ask more than we’re willing to give. Believe in your own goodness the way we believe in you! You are Ike, son of Elena, a woman unafraid to face danger to save her family, willing to fight on till her last breath. Her blood runs in you as much as his. Honor it!”

Ike pondered this. He lost his mother so young. His memories were few and vague. He and his father hardly discussed her, for obvious reasons. He remembered her smile though, her laugh, the gentle, healing hands when he was sick or hurt. He thought of how fiercely she’d fought to return his father to himself and how quickly she’d forgiven him before she died.

Ranulf turned towards Greil. The fighter stood, ignoring everything except Ike, holding out the medallion to him. Ranulf gestured towards the still figure.  
“As for him, that’s not your father. Your father was the man that taught you to fight, that took care of you even while battling his own demons. That is your fear of the darkness you think lays within, the darkness that the medallion brought out in Greil. You have the power to end this once and for all...”

“Ike!” Greil raised his retrieved sword. “It’s time.”

Turning to his father, Ike brought up his own sword.  
“Yes, it is. Far past time.”

As Ike advanced to meet his father, Ranulf was by his side, dropping back just before they met. This wasn’t his battle to fight. 

The older fighter fought with experience on his side but Ike knew every move, every parry, every trick that his father would try. Finally, with a quick twist of his sword, Ike sent Greil’s weapon spinning across the clearing. He looked at the unarmed man. 

“I’m sorry. But I know you’d want this.” 

Ike swung his sword but just as it connected, Greil disappeared, along with the Black Knight and everything else in the clearing. Only Ranulf remained, pacing behind him, and the cursed medallion, laying in the spot where his father had been just moments before. 

Ike stood there, puzzled.  
“I’m still here? Shouldn’t this be over now? Why haven’t I woken up?”

Ranulf pointed over to the medallion.  
“There’s one last thing you need to do.” 

Ike looked at the medallion and took a deep breath. No more “what ifs”. Time to face it. After a moment’s hesitation, he bent down and picked the medallion up. Standing there, he waited. When it became apparent nothing in him changed, tears of relief began to flow. He turned towards the forest and flung the medallion as far as he could into the tangled undergrowth. 

He looked at Ranulf who smiled back at him.  
“It’s over now, Rani. It’s time to go”

\-------------------------------  
Ranulf felt Ike’s body finally relax. Loosening his grip, he leaned up on one elbow to look at his face. Ike looked back at him, still groggy, tears streaking his cheeks. Ranulf gently wiped them away.

“Welcome back, my beautiful beorc. Are...are you OK?”

Ike studied Ranulf’s face for a moment, tracing the lines of it with his fingertips. Ranulf lightly kissed them as they crossed his lips, receiving a soft smile in return.

“Yeah, I think I am now.”

**Author's Note:**

> I couldn't find anything on whether laguz could talk in their animal states but hey, it's a dream so they can do whatever.


End file.
